NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Bob Evans Farms (BOBE) are higher by 0.08% to $47.89 in mid-morning trading Tuesday, ahead of the full-service restaurant company's fourth quarter earnings release after the closing bell later today.

Analysts are expecting the company to post earnings of 41 cents for the quarter, down from the 48 cents it reported in the prior year, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue is expected by Wall Street analysts to come in at $330.97 million, higher compared to the year ago sales of $326.37 million.

Last Friday, Bob Evans announced a strategic transaction through a sale-leaseback or a tax-free real estate investment trust conversion spin-off.

Through its BEF Foods segment, the company is a producer and distributor of refrigerated side dishes, pork sausage and a variety of refrigerated and frozen convenience food products.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates BOB EVANS FARMS as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate BOB EVANS FARMS (BOBE) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed, some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, generally higher debt management risk and disappointing return on equity."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 7.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 5.0%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displaying stagnant earnings per share.

Net operating cash flow has increased to $41.23 million or 20.79% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of -11.66%.

BOB EVANS FARMS reported flat earnings per share in the most recent quarter. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past two years. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, BOB EVANS FARMS reported lower earnings of $1.18 versus $2.92 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.49 versus $1.18).

The debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20 is relatively high when compared with the industry average, suggesting a need for better debt level management. Along with this, the company manages to maintain a quick ratio of 0.38, which clearly demonstrates the inability to cover short-term cash needs.

The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. In comparison to the other companies in the Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure industry and the overall market, BOB EVANS FARMS's return on equity is significantly below that of the industry average and is below that of the S&P 500.